This One Economic Report Sums Up Everything That's Wrong With The American Labor Market

Matthew Boesler

Thursday

Sep 26, 2013 at 1:04 PM

The Kansas City Federal Reserve just released its September report on monthly manufacturing activity, and many of the survey's respondents had interesting things to say about the state of the labor market.

"We saw slightly slower growth this month, but firms were much more optimistic about industry activity in early 2014," said Kansas City Fed vice president and economist Chad Wilkerson in the release. "Worker shortages remained a problem at many firms."

18% of respondents to the survey reported an increase in headcount at their firms, while 63% reported no change and 18% reported a decrease. 11% reported an increase in the average length of the employee workweek, while 75% reported no change and 12% reported a decrease.

The anecdotes from regional manufacturers included in the report point to a number of problems firms are having in the labor market. First and foremost appears to be a shortage of skilled workers. One respondent even mentions having trouble hiring "engineers and accountants."

Below are a few of the anecdotes:

“General labor is very difficult to find in order to fill our manufacturing positions. Educated workers are even harder to find.”
“Our starting wage has dropped because we are having to train people that come to us with no experience or skill.”
“We keep hearing the economy is getting better, but we have not seen an improvement.”
“The biggest issues we are facing are medical insurance, workers compensation insurance, and increased government regulation.”
“We are closing our facility and moving most of the product to our Mexico plant.”
“Have difficulty in hiring engineers and accountants.”
“Our industry has lost labor force to the oil and gas industry, which is not really paying more hourly but is giving a lot more overtime.”
This morning, the latest release from the Department of Labor showed that the number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time unexpectedly fell to 305,000 in the week ended September 21 from 309,000 the week before. Economists expected initial claims to rise to 325,000.